Uuuuugggggg!

Ouch. I have a new love/hate relationship with the Graston Technique. It has been the only thing that has worked to start the process of accurately massaging my nerves. It is absolutely painful but incredibly worth the suffering. My PT and I plan to try this once a week and see how it helps with nerve fibers, tenderness, and swelling.

http://www.grastontechnique.com/

The Fall breaks in and I broke out of my house!

Woot Woot---Week 11 arrives!

I had a great check-up with the doc last week. I thought he was going to keep me on crutches for two more weeks, but instead, a week ago, he told me to move to the cane. I have two more weeks left on the cane (which he considers to be almost full weight bearing) and then I can hopefully walk without any assistance. The first week I truly needed the cane and felt unsteady. Now I am getting used to it and find myself strengthening more and more. My range of motion seems to be increasing and numbness even seems to be decreasing. That said, I am sitting here with ice on my leg because it feels so darn good.

Jen told me she will get me a top hat to go with my cane. I think our youth at Outreach would get a kick out of this look.

I increased my acetabular coverage by over 20 degress--I was so glad when Dr. Scheid shared this news.

I will start PT on Friday (2-3 times a week for 6 weeks). I will go as much as they'll let me--we didn't hit our deductible for nothing! I hope to try out aquatic therapy which provides an underwater treadmill in a warm pool. This may or may not be that helpful, says Dr. Scheid, since he now wants me to start weight bearing. The pool may help but from the chest down it's non weight bearing.

On a different note, the husband and I escaped Indianapolis this past weekend to rendezvous with my beautiful friends and family. Oh, and Nate got to see, in person, the Nittany Lions prance all over those Wolverines this weekend! A nice treat after 10 weeks of nursing me back to health.

approaching 7 weeks

Day 47 on this PAO journey. It's 10-10-10 and 90 degrees here in Indianapolis. Where did you go, Autumn?

Went to church today and rode the recumbent bike while watching the Colts beat the Chiefs today! I paid for it, though, as I came with a shooting pain down the left side of my left quad. I've been icing for some time now.

Altogether, I know and feel I am getting stronger. The days begin to feel more normal. I return to work for half days starting tomorrow. I can now drive myself around and feel infinitely more independent. I am moving slowly, and taking small steps toward independence slowly. My body tells me I have to. I'm thankful I have not resorted back to my heavy meds even when the pain is intense. Starting Wednesday, I can bear 50 lbs. of weight on my left leg. I am anxious to begin PT and do believe the recumbent bike has helped to keep my stamina and strength throughout this healing period.

As I return to Outreach, Inc. tomorrow, I know I will require more sleep and longer periods of rest. Stress can manifest itself in my body so easily; I will need to "listen" to stress indicators and respect the weaning process.

Progress

Mom took me on Wednesday to OrthoIndy for my 5 week check-up.

Dr. Scheid pulled up my latest x-ray and was happy to see that my hip "took" and it is healing in such a way that he is content. The first thing we noticed were 5 LONG SCREWS in my pelvis holding it all together. I've known there are screws in my body but now I see them, and it brings another level of reality. The three cuts in bone Dr. Scheid made are still growing back together. It was truly worth celebrating when we saw the comparison between my right and left (operated) hip. The left hip now (minus the screws and breaks0 looks normal...ball fitting into socket and all. Incredible! God has gifted Dr. Scheid with such precision and knowledge.

I can now bear 25 lbs of weight on my left foot, which is really helpful in my crutching endeavors. You basically figure this weight by putting your foot on a scale and seeing what 25 lbs. feels like.

Due to the bone still growing/healing, I can't start PT for another month, but I can continue on the bike as well as some exercises to build strength.

Altogether, we were grateful for the news. I did ask Dr. Scheid for our own copy of the x-ray. Now we can frame it and put it in our front room :)

We continue onward.

5 Weeks In...

A friend just reminded me that I haven't updated in almost a week.

I will have more of a formal medical update on Wednesday (following my appointment with Dr. Scheid), but for now, I want to introduce you to my new mode of transportation: Millienial Crutches

These have come highly recommended by top athletes and a few hip chicks. I waited all week on that UPS man to deliver them...and they came on Thursday. It took some time to get used to walking with them after using a walker for over a month. The shock absorbers are especially helpful as it bears some weight for me.

We celebrated a friends birthday yesterday. It was a lovely day with friends but it took the wind out of me to be up on the crutches for most of the day. Both my left hip and my right hip were in pain. I slept deeply last night and the swelling has gone back down. Speaking of sleep, I have had some fitful nights of sleep as I've been weaning off of the pain meds. I'm now almost totally on Tylenol (5 weeks in...I should have tried it a few weeks ago!) and this mostly does the trick. The Norco and Ultram are tucked away for now, for emergency use only. This feels like yet another milestone.

I'm also beginning to tap back into work remotely. I feel tired most of the day still so I do what I can and sleep when I need to. I look forward to a full and hopefully energized return to Outreach, Inc. (www.outreachindiana.org) in the next few weeks.

I continue on the recumbent bike a few times a week at the YMCA. This is my sanity these days (a shout out to my taxi drivers: Patrick, Matt, and Nate). I have avoided more swimming as it simply feels like too much energy to put on a bathing suit, get in and out of the pool, dry off, etc. I'm thankful to Dad and Deb for the use of their outdoor pool during this recovery period--seeing as though it's 49 degrees outside right now, I'm thinking those summer days are over!

Thank you, Jesus, that we have made it to 5 weeks!

And just for fun, here's a picture of my hot male nurse standing on the mountainside of the Napali coast on our (pre-surgery) trip to Kauai this summer:

Day 28

It's Tuesday, September 21, 2010 and the official start of Autumn is TOMORROW, September 22 at 11:09pm ET! Fall is by far my favorite season of all. But, it's also 94 degrees in Indianapolis today--a record high.

Oh, and also, I'm 4 weeks into my recovery and week 5 starts today! Hallelujah!

Can you tell I'm counting down the days to normal life again?

I'm in the same couch position where I've written most of these posts, but feeling dramatically different than I was a few weeks back.

I am down to taking pain meds every 7 or 8 hours and my range of motion continues to improve. My swelling has decreased but is still evident. I still ice most of the day.

I hope I'm healing in ways I need to be; I have my post-op visit next Wednesday and look forward to seeing progress. In the meantime, Giada and "John Adams" have kept me good company.

The emotional load feels heavy still. I am severely dependent on others for almost all of my needs (though I've made major strides--getting my own breakfast, getting out of bed on my own, and even putting on socks when I'm sitting at the right angle!) and this is a hard and yet necessary reality. I wake each day in hopes that I will use a given hardship as a time of reflection and drawing near to God. When hope feels far away, I can spiral into negativity and wonder if this will ever come to an end:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Phillipians 4:8-9